فتاة الأستر

## Illustrations

## Prelude

Translator: Yunying Yi Scans: uiop031 It was a certain Sunday. —— A clear day off, hard-won, but my parents said they had something important today, so I couldn't go anywhere either. I could only sit quietly with Dad and watch television to pass the time. [The "I" here uses the masculine first-person pronoun boku.] The television was a rerun of a variety show. It wasn't even that funny, yet Dad clutched his stomach and laughed out loud. Different senses of humor, I suppose. Just as the program was about to end, the intercom announcing a visitor suddenly rang. "Right on time," Mom said from the kitchen, and Dad followed her out of the living room. "Nono (のの). Come here." Before long, Mom's voice came from the front door. Called over, I went to look. Standing there was a woman about Mom's age, and a little girl. The girl clung tightly to the woman's skirt, hiding half her body behind her as she looked this way. "You must be Nonose Nono (ののせのの)-kun. Hello." "Hello." After the greeting, the woman smiled faintly at me. Nonose Nono. Read from front to back or from back to front, it is still "ののせのの." That is my name. As a boy's name it makes people tilt their heads—it hardly counts as a good one—but it is convenient when introducing myself, so I like it more than I expected. "This child is Saeki Kikyou (さえきききょう). ...

## First Part

My drifting, floating consciousness gathered itself and slowly grew clear. The pleasant sensation of hovering scattered, and in its place came a prickling feeling, as if something were poking at my eyes. Ah, it's already morning. I'll just keep my eyes closed, I thought, frowning gloomily. The morning sun slipping through the gap in the curtains must be hitting my eyelids. I ought to replace those curtains, I suddenly thought. Though this month's allowance is a bit tight. For the first time in a while, I dreamed of the past. Maybe because Kikyou came to stay yesterday and we talked late into the night. Ha... I yawned. I wanted to go back to sleep just like this, but today is Monday. I can't be late for school at the very start of the week. No—I wouldn't really care either way, but Kikyou's mood would turn terrible. Before this, somehow I'd resolved to sleep in, overslept, and only made it to school by second period, only to find Kikyou in tears, fiddling with her phone. While I was still startled, wondering what had happened, something occurred to me and I checked my own phone, and found a flood of messages from Kikyou, and call logs besides. She had been worried sick that I might have been in some kind of accident. After I said I'd only overslept, Kikyou did stop crying, but after that her mood was awful, and she wouldn't say a single word to me. In the end she only let it go once I promised we'd go shopping together the next Sunday, so compared to...

## Latter Part

Kikyou and I, the same as always. Today like this, and tomorrow the same. As childhood friends, we know each other so thoroughly that we know all of it: what will make the other happy, what will make them angry, what will make them laugh, how to talk them around, what will make them cry. I can tell at once what Kikyou is thinking, and even without seeing her, knowing what she is doing right now is as easy as reaching into a pocket. I was sure of that. Until that day. —— After school. That day too I had said to Kikyou that we should "go home together." So, out of habit, I packed my textbooks and notes, and my stationery and the rest, into my bag, stood up, and turned around. "Kikyou, let's go—" If I said that, Kikyou would surely answer in a fluster, "Mm, wait a second," and stuff her textbooks into her bag. I thought today would be the same. But that assumption was betrayed all too easily. "Sorry, Nono-chan. There's somewhere I want to go." "Eh..." The sound slipped out of me on its own. This was far too unexpected. Because Kikyou—that Kikyou, the Kikyou who had always gone everywhere with me, the Kikyou who wouldn't have anything hidden—had turned me down and said she was going to do something else. Nothing like this had ever happened even once until now. For an instant I couldn't grasp why, and my thoughts stopped. If I immediately said, "I'll come too," Kikyou...

## Epilogue

"...Well, I figured it'd be like this." "Ehehe~" Nao looked at me through half-lidded eyes. By contrast, Kikyou was all smiles, hugging my right hand and pressing her body tightly against me. Kikyou, leaning in so close, was terribly cute. Because of what happened yesterday, the distance between us had grown even closer. Kikyou beside me now was no longer "like a lover." She was my lover, and that made me so happy my cheeks simply wouldn't settle down. But this was the classroom during lunch. There were plenty of classmates around. Among them, we stood out badly. The object of attention. I have an ordinary person's sense of shame. Which is to say, I was terribly embarrassed. "Ki-Kikyou, aren't you embarrassed?" I whispered it by Kikyou's ear. My cheeks were hot. I could feel the heat myself. "No. Not at all." As she said it, Kikyou actually leaned in even closer. Does Kikyou have no sense of shame? No—if that's the case, our classmates must already know about the relationship between us. We were being watched, yet there was no surprise in the looks turned our way. And somehow, floating through the classroom, that feeling of being blessed—what was this warm sense of relief? "It's because the two of you have finally started going out for real." "I-I see. ...Eh, huh? Why do you know what I was thinking?" "I could tell from your face..." Stunned again. Right now, I...

## Afterword

Hello, everyone. I'm Motochi Sora. It is not read Honchi. It is read Motochi. Pleased to meet you. This story was one I previously made public for a limited time on my website. As you have read, it depicts a girl × girl story. If you call it yuri, then it is yuri. If you say it is not, then it is not. TSF is a difficult genre. Loving, regardless of the body's sex, the you I have known since long ago—a pure feeling like that, transcending even gender: what a sweet development that is. Thinking of the future, there will be all sorts of problems... but surely if it is the two of them, it will be all right. All the more so if both sets of parents approve. By the way, the protagonist Nono, as you have seen, reads "ののせのの" whether from the back or from the front. I'm rather fond of it. —— And lastly, my thanks to everyone who went to the trouble of making this book. August 7, Heisei 26, Osaka